Sandvine eyes growth in Asian telecom orders

(Reuters) - Sandvine Corp, which makes equipment for telephone companies to monitor roaming usage, expects more orders from Asia this year as its customers seek ways to manage traffic and improve billing services, its chief executive said.

The Canadian company, whose customers include Japan's NTT Communications, has won orders worth about $20 million from Asia since May, a trend that helped it to return to profit in the fourth quarter after four consecutive quarterly losses.

"We have had some excellent success in the Asia Pacific region," Dave Caputo, chief executive and co-founder of Sandvine, told Reuters in an interview. "We are expecting growth in that region."

The Asia Pacific region contributed 26 percent of Sandvine's revenue of $87.9 million in the year ended November. Europe, the Middle East and Africa contributed 17.6 percent and North America - still the company's largest market - brought in 41.6 percent.

Waterloo, Ontario-based Sandvine, which has a market value of about C$252 million ($256 million), added nine clients worldwide during the fourth quarter, up from seven new clients a year earlier.

At least two analysts have raised their ratings on the company's stock since it announced fourth-quarter revenue of $27.5 million on January 10, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine data. Its shares have risen 31 percent this year.

Among the equipment made by Sandvine is a product that enables telephone companies to monitor their customers' roaming usage and inform them when they are nearing their limit, protecting them from "bill shock", or a spike in charges.

Caputo said repeat orders from existing customers, which include U.S. cable TV provider Comcast Corp and Spanish telecom company Telefonica SA, would account for the "lion's share" of Sandvine's revenue this year.
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